Aston Martin seeks EV partner in China – Automotive News: In the case of Magna, the discussions range from an equal partnership with Beijing Auto to cooperation in areas including manufacturing and parts supply, the people said, asking not to be identified as negotiations are private. Beijing Auto is the…

Alex Roi once said (Google was no help, can’t find the link) that is feels like Tesla hogs half of the headlines. As it turns out, it is not quite as much, but close. In the news, one of the world’s smallest automakers definitely dwarfs the big ones in headline power.

In an attempt to get a numerical handle on the matter, I queried the Dailykanban Newsbot database. Our proprietary Newsbot searches the web for stories related to the auto industry, and it does it 24/7. It does not search chatrooms, Twitter et al. It counts only what Google deems as news. One unique URL counts as one mention. The Newsbot still is a bit young and clumsy, it does not factor the reach of a story. For this exercise, a link in Reuters counts as much as a link in the Owyhee Avalanche (none so far).

As far as car groups are concerned, a headline for Fiat or Dodge increases the FCA count. Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi all add to the Alliance, and so forth. Musk, SpaceX etc. go into the Tesla column.

Chinese start-ups set sights on car industry – FT: “I think all of these new EV companies’ funding added up would not be enough to support a single product’s entire life cycle” of about seven years. Already one high-profile start-up’s star has waned due to funding difficulties. Faraday Future launched…